Hello Kitty: The Movie

Hello Kitty has a movie deal. For the first time in her 45-year history, an English language feature film featuring the iconic character is being developed for a worldwide audience.

It is not yet known whether the film will be live-action or animated, but New Line Cinema, Sanrio, and FlynnPictureCo. are making it happen. The film will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, opening-up cinematic expansion for an already robust line of toys and consumer products — more than 50,000 different items a year, without a movie.

Sanrio Founder, President, and CEO Shintaro Tsuji said, “I am extremely pleased that Hello Kitty and other popular Sanrio characters will be making their Hollywood debut. Hello Kitty has long been a symbol of friendship and we hope this film will only serve to grow that circle of friendship around the world.”

The Hello Kitty movie will be produced by Beau Flynn (Rampage) and executive produced by Wendy Jacobson (San Andreas) for FlynnPictureCo.

It took nearly five years to secure the rights to develop Hello Kitty for the big screen. Writers and talent are not yet attached.

About the author

James Zahn

James Zahn

James Zahn, AKA The Rock Father, is Editor-in-Chief of The Toy Book, a Senior Editor at The Toy Insider and The Pop Insider, and Editor of The Toy Report, The Toy Book‘s weekly industry newsletter. As a pop culture and toy industry expert, Zahn has appeared as a panelist and guest at events including Comic-Con International: San Diego (SDCC) Wizard World Chicago, and the ASTRA Marketplace & Academy. Zahn has more than 30 years of experience in the entertainment, retail, and publishing industries, and is frequently called upon to offer expert commentary for publications such as Forbes, Marketwatch, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA Today, Reuters, the Washington Post, and more. James has appeared on History Channel’s Modern Marvels, was interviewed by Larry King and Anderson Cooper, and has been seen on Yahoo! Finance, CNN, CNBC, FOX Business, NBC, ABC, CBS, WGN, The CW, and more. Zahn joined the Adventure Media & Events family in 2016, initially serving as a member of the Parent Advisory Board after penning articles for the Netflix Stream Team, Fandango Family, PBS KIDS, Sprout Parents (now Universal Kids), PopSugar, and Chicago Parent. He eventually joined the company full time as a Senior Editor and moved up the ranks to Deputy Editor and Editor-in-Chief.

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